Three women lived in the same coastal town and in the same house over a period of two hundred years. The women were related, but their lives were separated by time. Their story begins in the early years of the 19th century with the birth of Amelia Caroline Potter Everitt. Her great-granddaughter, Amelia Caroline Everitt, was born one century later. The Two women knew each other through family stories, memorabilia, and through conversations across time. It is through these conversations that their lives are revealed. The third woman, Dr. Mary Eliza Langdon, a current day descendant of the family, tells their story, which is based upon historical record. Explored are issues related to women's struggle for independence and professional identity, the role of women in health care reform, religious faith and the impact on the women of war and military activity in a small town, the center of which is an 18th century military installation. Though the village was small, the lives of the women were of epic proportion, involving events ranging from a landmark case argued before the US Supreme Court to securing voting rights for women, and the worst military sea disaster of the 19th century. Yet, their lives also were of the everyday variety for their times, and encompassed the joys of childbirth as well as the tragedy of epidemic fevers. They celebrated sunrises and sunsets, and they searched for understanding in times of pain.
